lazy perogies & lazy cabbage rolls

lazy sunday = lazy comfort food. oh yes.

perogies and cabbage rolls are the name of the game today. in celebration of my good friends’ ukrainian-italian wedding this weekend, today’s post is all about two of my fave, ultimate comfort foods — perogies & cabbage rolls. yummers.

so this is not your traditional recipe (no dough, no rolling), but it is still quite delish and filling. my friend laurie invited me over for sunday dinner and shared her gramma’s awesome (and easypeasy!) recipe for lazy perogies and lazy cabbage rolls. there aren’t exact quantities here for ingredients; it’s all about cooking to taste. be creative and enjoy!

prep perogy ‘dough’:
– boil 5-6 medium sheets of lasagna pasta til al dente
– remove from heat. drain water & set pasta aside.

– preheat oven to 350F

prep perogy stuffing:
– fry bacon. allow to cool & remove excess oil. chop bacon into small bits. set aside.

in a large mixing bowl, combine the following ingredients well:
– cheddar cheese (grated)
– dry cottage cheese
– mashed potatoes
– fresh dill (finely chopped)
– sea salt
– yellow onion (peeled, diced)
– sour cream

(tip: you can get creative with the lazy perogy stuffing and experiment with different ingredients. i think it might try sauerkraut and ground pork next time around.)

create perogy casserole:
– lightly grease inside of non-stick bakeware (laurie used corningware) w/ melted butter (to prevent lasagna sheets from sticking to the surface of baking dish)
– place a layer of cooked lasagna sheets as a foundation in baking dish
– add a generous layer of potato-onion-cheese stuffing over pasta
– sprinkle a layer of bacon bits
– continue layering pasta, perogy stuffing & bacon bits until baking dish is almost full

bake the casserole:
– bake perogy casserole (covered) for 1 hr at 350F

you can bake the lazy perogies at the same time as the lazy cabbage rolls. read on for the recipe for lazy cabbage rolls…

 

 

prep cabbage roll stuffing:

– 1 bag of pre-cut cabbage & carrots

(tip: you can typically find this is the ready-made salad section of the produce aisle in your grocery store. this is a nice, time-saving shortcut if you don’t have enough time to slice & dice cabbage and carrots yourself.)

– cook 2 cups jasmine/white rice (could probably substitute this for brown rice, if you wish)

in a large mixing bowl, combine the following ingredients well:
– cabbage & carrots (julienne cut)
– jasmine/white rice
– yellow onion (peeled, diced)
– 1/2 cup heavy cream
– sea salt
– ground black peppercorns (to taste)

– pour cabbage roll mixture evenly into a large, oven-safe baking dish

bake the casserole:
– bake cabbage roll casserole (covered) for 1 hr at 350F

 

food styling:
– dish up a serving of lazy perogies alongside a serving of lazy cabbage rolls
– garnish w/ sauteed yellow onions (rough chop)
– season w/ ground black peppercorns (to taste)